Respect

Dear Mom and Everyone else,

Thank you all for all your love and support over the past few weeks. I relize it might be rude to say, but I have been taught not to lie, I am excited for Wednesday. Elder Marcia gets his wish of going home and I get a new comp who hopefully shows respect for people. I don´t know where me and him went wrong, but just know that I don´t care who my next comp is, he is going to be my favorite right from the get-go. A lot of elders in the zone see how Elder Marcia treats people like dirt and ask how I went 3 months without hitting him. I can honestly say that I prayed in the morning, mid-day, night, and a few times inbetween for patience and love, and I think it worked.

I found the thing that really got under my skin about this guy, and it is something that has angered me only once, and it is something that I learned from having 4 older sisters, a great sister in law and a fantastic mom. Marcia has absolutely NO respect for women. My wonderful sisters, sister in law and mom, have always taught to to respect woman. It is something that I have tried for a while to practice. Now, as can testify my boy Brad Johnson, there are few things that make me more angry than when a man (if he deserves that title) mistreats a woman. There is no reason for it. There is no gain from it. There is only sadness from it. This part of the email is to the guys that will recieve this. GIVE PROPER REPESCT TO WOMEN!

This part is for the women that will recieve this email. To my Madison, Melanie, Kristi, Vicki, Danielle, Mom, Kaitlin, Grandma N. and Grandma O. and any aunts cousins or any other reading. One of the few things that make me more angry than a man who mistreats a woman is when that self same woman accepts the abuse in anyform and laughs. There are times for laughter and there are funny jokes. Be wise in knowing where the line between joking and reality lies. DEMAND RESPECT! There is no reason to accept insults from low down men (and I use that title loosely). Have the courage to tell them how you feel and how they should treat you. I have seen first-hand young women down here broken down, nearly to tears, by cold unfeeling men. Yes even one man who carried the title Elder. Don´t let this happen. Don´t degrade yourselves. You are far to precious to our Heavenly Father to think of yourselves as below us men.

I´m sorry if this email sounds like a chastisement, but it is what I feel. It´s shouldn´t taken hard because the people I know that are reading it already follow this advice. This is only a warning for the future. Please give respect where respect is due, and if it is not due, help that person to earn it. I can´t remember who origionally gave this quote but I heard it in sunday school a long time ago. It refers directly to high school, but involves life as a whole. "Popularity ends on yearbook day. Respect lasts forever."

I love you all, and hope for the very best in all your endeavors.

Love,

Elder Neiswender

Work Work Work

Dear Mom and everyone else,

Well there´s not a lot to say this week since I just talked to you guys yesterday. Oh and thanks Tim for coming over and talking for a few minutes! I don´t think that my family minded too much (?).

I read Elder Simper´s letter about the sacrament and I have to agree 100 % with it. Last week, due to poor plan, and quick decision making, by someone who is bad at making snap decisions, I followed my comp from one church building to the next, and we ended up missing the sacrament. No, I was not happy. This week when I took the sacrament, I remembered that it had been two weeks since I had taken it. It felt so good. It was as if I could feel it working right there, like the way that Elder Simper described it. It was amazing.

I also had the opportunity to bless the sacrament yesterday which was fun because the guy that I was partnered with to bless with has only been a member for about a year. He asked if I had ever blessed the sacrament before. I said yes but that didn´t stop him from explaining how it sould be done. It was cool to see how dedicated he was to seeing it done right. It´s been really cool seeing the progress that this little branch has been making. A lot more members have had the chance to confirm converts and even give the priesthood, so they are learning for themselves and gaining confidence and most important, faith and testimonies. The branch works hard with us because really, there is nothing else to do in this little place. But hey, I don´t care about the reasons, I just like working with cool members.

I hope that all focus on going out of your comfort zone and grow and grow and grow. because that´s how it works. My old companion Elder Ellett is a muscular man, and I know that he didn´t get those muscles by sitting there watching tv all day. he had to work. It might be hard, but it always pays off in the end!

Hopeyou all have great weeks!

Love,

Elder Neiswender

A Little Old Man on the Mountain

Dear Mom and everyone else,

I forgot to tell you guys last week, but here is a cool story. So two and a half weeks ago, we get a reference for an old man who lives up on the mountain. Not THE old man on the mountain because there are about fifty old guys that live on this same mountain. Anyway, for us as missionaries, it takes about twenty minutes to half an hour to walk to his house, for normal people, at least an hour. Yes, missionaries walk faster than most people. Anyway, we teach this guy once, and he falls in love with the part about how Jesus Christ organized his church, and kept telling us "Nobody ever explained this to me before." Then we told him how we have the same organization and he about fell off his chair. He walked the hour to church and loved it, but left before we got a chance to talk to him about baptism. We passed him a few days later when we were walking around the mountain. We asked him if he had prayed about baptism and he just tells us simply, "Yes, I have already made the pact with God, so I am going to get baptized." Then on the next Sunday (last Sunday) he comes up and just asks me out of the blue when the next baptismal service was, so I told him this (two days ago) Saturday. "OK" he said "I am going to get baptized that day." And that little old man from the mountain did it. He got baptized this Saturday and the whole time had a huge smile on his face. But there was a little bit of an awkward story from the baptism itself.

I got to organize the agenda of the service, so I decided to call on a non member friend of the guy getting baptized, to give the opening prayer. Just a quick preview to religion in Honduras, there are a TON of different churches, and some of them do or say things in prayers or in testimonies that are supposed to be saved for sacred ordinences. Some of them shout Halleluja all the time or end every prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost. Well this little old guy (like I said, lots of old guys) and he gives a 3 minute introduction to his prayer, also not uncommon here. We finally start praying and I don´t know why but I opened my eyes during the prayer and saw that little old guy praying his heart out with his are put to the square!!!!!! I just about lost it laughing. I know it´s a sacred thing that you´re not supposed to make fun of but that little man just doesn´t know that he´s not supposed to do that! We´ll have to teach him about that one real quick:)

Other than that things have been going alright. We had our regular interviews with President on Firday. His advice to me...Just let Elder Marcia end his mission thinking that he ended good. I love that man, he understands what´s going on and understands the truth when he hears it.

Oh, mom and Kristi...Just remember that when you are in Lima, Peru, I´m here in Lima, Honduras!!! And I can´t wait to talk to you all on Sunday, I should be able to call Sunday in the afternoon around 3.

I love you all and thank you all for everything!

Love,

Elder Neiswender